Unlikely Superstars

[Kenny]

Maybe it's just me, but I always enjoyed turning a player of not high status into a star player. What's your story on this topic? Even if it's just a game.

My last season with the Bucks on NBA Live 06, Dan Gadzuric received the 6th man trophy and got second All Defensive team honors.

[Kenny]

Oh, and Sarunus Jaskivicious (sp?)

I won three rings with him (two with Denver, one with Milwaukee). He played as a starter in the All-Star game in his last season, won the most improved player award and also made an all NBA team. He had an illustrious career for someone who only played 6 seasons in the NBA.

[Andrew]

Did you develop his ratings or just manage to squeeze a star performance out of him?

[Skills]

I developed Andre Iguodala into MVP after 5 seasons on Live 2005.
Guys like Kobe, Nash, Kidd and Shaq already retired by then! :O

[GoHornets]

I developed wilcox into a power player and sweetney into a 78 player.
I had a good combination inside.
Of course it took me about 7 seasons - live 06 -

[Kenny]

Did you develop his ratings or just manage to squeeze a star performance out of him?

Which one?

I managed to consistently perform with both players. I couldn't really develop either too much because they were aging players when I started to control them. When I jumped ship to Milwaukee after controlling Denver I acquired both Andre Miller and Sarunus Jaskivicious from Denver. Andre ended up being out with a long term injury, so Sarunus took his place in the starting line up and consistently performed excellently.

[Andrew]

That's what I thought, developing them would indeed be a tough task given their age.

[Kenny]

Yeah it would have been hard. I also made Josh Childress into an All-Star and a playoffs MVP... but I think he's a future superstar in real life anyway.

[Metsis]

Yeah it would have been hard. I also made Josh Childress into an All-Star and a playoffs MVP... but I think he's a future superstar in real life anyway.

Not ever with the shot mechanics on this guy... You can't shoot it like that and get away with it or a super-star level... If he doesn't learn to shoot it better, he will at best be a support type third stringer. He can't get a shot off, if he's defended like Kobe and the rest are.

Have you seen this guy shoot??? Thought Marion's shot was ugly??? Think again... I don't even understand how the ball leaves his hands...

But on this subject... I think it's fun to enter an alternate universe and see what some players can make of themselves with given opportunity... Some will crash and burn always, as they really do, but some turn out to have some seroius talent. And it's always a rewarding experience...

[emi_b7]

In NBA Live 06, Felton was my 2 times MVPa nd 2 times DPOY on a team that also featured Redd, Maggette, Okafor and Dirk

[Kenny]

Yeah it would have been hard. I also made Josh Childress into an All-Star and a playoffs MVP... but I think he's a future superstar in real life anyway.

Not ever with the shot mechanics on this guy... You can't shoot it like that and get away with it or a super-star level... If he doesn't learn to shoot it better, he will at best be a support type third stringer. He can't get a shot off, if he's defended like Kobe and the rest are.

Have you seen this guy shoot??? Thought Marion's shot was ugly??? Think again... I don't even understand how the ball leaves his hands...

Who cares what his shot looks like? He's averaging over 55 percent from the field this season. I think that's a pretty good number. Sure he has places to improve his game, but I think he's on his way.

[Andrew]

I suppose Ben Gordon's performance in my NBA Live 06 Dynasty qualifies since he seemed to be heading towards an All-Star appearance in the first season before he went down with injury. He is a noteworthy player on the Bulls' roster though so perhaps it's not quite on the same level as taking Jasikevicius and making him a star.

By today's standards it doesn't really count but back when my cousin and I were playing NBA Live 97, we had a season going with the Phoenix Suns where Steve Nash was putting up some fantastic stats and broke the assist record in consecutive games. That wouldn't be too out of the ordinary playing one of the recent Lives but being a rookie at the time his ratings weren't fantastic and we hadn't used him much up until one game where we managed to have a dominant quarter with him, started playing him more and had him play like a superstar.

[Kenny]

If I remember correctly, Nash had garbage stats in NBA 98 as well. So did McGrady and Kobe for that fact. So props for turning Nash into a star back then. I suppose it was almost like you foretold the future on that one or something

[Andrew]

True, though he's yet to dish out 37 and 38 assists in back to back games. It's probably easier to get big performances out of point guards with average ratings, especially back in NBA Live 97 when it was easier getting to the basket (taking care of the scoring) and as long as you've got some good scorers on your team to help rack up the assists.

Eric Piatkowski is probably worth a mention at this point too, I've had him in a couple of Dynasty games with the Bulls and while he didn't play like a star he turned out to be pretty clutch at times when I need to make up big deficits.

[[Q]]

I quickly became a big fan of Iguodala after he developed into a superstar/MVP in every one of my dynasties. I would always draft/trade for him in every one of my dynasties after that.

[Kenny]

I quickly became a big fan of Iguodala after he developed into a superstar/MVP in every one of my dynasties. I would always draft/trade for him in every one of my dynasties after that.

I think everyone has that player that they acquire in every campaign. For me, it's Josh Childress. I just like his style of play. He's good on the fast break, he's a tall shooting guard so he can grab boards and is excellent at the charity stripe.

Oh, and for my next dynasty, I want to make it my mission to get Michael Olowokandi a ring... I do love the underdogs haha

[Andrew]

Certain players come in and out of vogue when it comes to Dynasty/Franchise games. Darius Miles and Mike Bibby were a couple of players I used to acquire a fair bit and Kwame Brown and Desagana Diop were solid choices in NBA Live 2002 as they tended to develop into stars.

[Kenny]

Ah Kwame Brown, THERE'S a name worthy of this thread. I'd love to hear if anyone made him into a superstar.

[Kenny]

and I just remembered, on NBA Live 98, I got a 30 with Michael Curry in the 3pt competition. I thought it was something back then and he kinda became a favourite of mine

[Andrew]

He tended to develop into a 90+ overall player in NBA Live 2002. Given his size, it was usually easy to turn him into a dominant player by force feeding him the ball in the post.

[Kenny]

he tends to develop into a high 70/low 80 player in 06 as well I've found

[Andrew]

Darius Miles was also one of those players that was a lot better to have in Live than in real life with his development potential combined with his height and existing ratings facilitating a performance we're yet to see from him (and probably won't, given the latest news on his injured knee).

[Kenny]

Yeah, I also noticed that Jonathan Bender always kicks my ass when it comes to getting boards as well

[Andrew]

Ah yes, Bender's another one. Players who never really made it in the NBA often had more value in video games, where their talents tended to be better utilised...or exaggerated.